A series of thoughts and insights to help as we go through many of life's crossroads.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Destiny Is A Choice - Not Chance

It feels somewhat fitting to take this first post talking about the idea of destiny. The Bible speaks more than a few times on destiny. It should be very clear to anyone who’s done a fair amount of Bible study that God has big plans for us, each of us. (Jer 1.5, Jer 29:11, Rom 8:29-30, Eph 1:4-5) In fact, in Acts, we’re told that “when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.” (Acts 13:36) As long as we’re still breathing, God has a destiny for us.

Of course, there’s the free will factor. God makes it clear that He’s not going to impose himself on us. (Rev 3:20) So the choice is left completely up to us, to follow His will, or to go our own way.

Rest assured, no matter what we do, the will of God will come to pass, it’s just a matter of how long it takes.

We all know the story of Abraham. He starts off in Genesis 12 living with his family in a place called Haran, and God calls him to pack up and leave and move to Canaan. And so he does. But look back a few verses, to the end of Gen. 11. Abraham’s father, Terah, packs up and moves from Ur. He starts out going to Canaan, but he gets to Haran and decides he’s gone far enough. Terah lives in Haran for a few years, and dies. The very next verse is Abraham’s call to move, to finish what his father started. Terah had a destiny, but he didn’t work hard enough to fulfill it.

Think of the twelve spies sent into Canaan by Moses. They go into the land that God has promised them, to survey and scout out. Ten spies come back terrified by what they’ve seen. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, believed God’s promise for them. So, God kills the ten by plague, and promises Moses that no one who saw His miracles in Egypt or in the desert would set foot in Canaan. (Numbers 14:22-23) They missed out on their destiny because of their doubt.

But when we embrace our destiny, that’s when things start to take off.David heard Goliath taunting the Israelite army and, in the process, God Himself. David’s brother’s wanted him to go home and tend the sheep, Saul wanted him wearing full armor. David did neither, and started himself on the path to his destiny as king. (1 Sam 17) So much so, that God says of David, 'I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.' (Acts 13:22)